Shadows
by Thalisirwen
Summary: Kinda AU - could be set before or after the book - NO SPOILERS! Strange things are afoot in Mirkwood...and what is wrong with Legolas?
1. Part One

TITLE: Shadows (1/2)  
AUTHOR: Thalisirwen   
RATING: PG13  
SPOILERS: None  
SUMMARY: Strange things are afoot in Mirkwood...and what has happened to Legolas?  
NOTES: First un-slash, un-'ship fic. Galanwen is an original character. Please excuse any bad elvish, if you find a mistake, please email the correction!  
DISCLAIMER: Middle-Earth, Mirkwood, Characters etc, are not my creation, they belong to Tolkien. However, Don't sue, I'm broke.   
  
Mirkwood's favourite prince had returned, and there was much celebration. It had been a long time since Legolas had been in his kingdom, and he had been greatly missed by those around him.   
But something was different about him. He was unhealthily pale, yet his alabaster skin seemed to radiate life, and his eyes shone with a light never seen before. Never had the elf looked so...so alive.   
Thranduil was worried by the change in his son, this was obvious to many of his subjects. Legolas used to be a happy soul, always joining in festivities, walking through the sunlit gardens, and was always smiling, greeting others as if they were his greatest friend. But many moons had passed since the elf last smiled. Now, he only walked at night, barely acknowledging the other elves around him. He moved so stealthily, that now not even the most talented elven tracker could follow him.   
Thranduil knew this, for he had been worried about Legolas's whereabouts during the night. Several times had he seen his son disappear into the dangerous woodland after dark, not returning until almost sunrise, then retiring to his room for the day. A maid had once worriedly reported 'I cannot clean Prince Legolas's room, for he sleeps all day and cannot be woken,"  
"Clean it during the night then," the king had replied, muttering to himself "He'll be out at night."  
He never saw that maid again, her family did not know where she had gone. Rumours around the palace were that she had run off with a stable hand who had gone missing several days before.   
So Thranduil had called for the best trackers in his kingdom, and sent them to follow his beloved son on his nightly trips out of the palace. So far, three trackers had been sent out to follow Legolas. One reported he had followed the elf far into the forest, then he had simply lost all trace of him, as if he had never been there. Another elf claimed that Legolas had disappeared the moment he entered the forest, no sight, sound, sign or scent of him showing his way. The third elf, and the last who had been sent out, wasn't seen alive again. He was found, dead, suspended from a spiders web. The group of hunters sent to find him had killed the spider, cutting the lifeless form down and carrying the body respectfully back to the palace. Later examination showed where the spider had injected the elf with poison. A strange thing noticed by a healer, was that the body had no blood in it. Everyone supposed the spider had merely drunk it, and the spiders were cursed and hated more than ever.  
Severely vexed by this unexpected death, and the sudden disappearances of several more elves, Thranduil assembled an army of warriors to go into the forest and kill every spider they came across. A great many spiders were killed, yet sadly few warriors returned. Those that did looked pale and tired, sleeping for days after their return. When quizzed about what had happened, none of them could remember much.   
Several claimed to have heard strange growls in the forest, going to investigate, and then waking up later in a clearing. But either most or all of the spiders had been killed, they were sure of it. Again, the bodies found were drained of blood, with the same puncture marks where the spiders had bitten.  
Despite the slaughter of the spiders, people still continued to disappear.  
  
*********  
  
A strange hush had fallen on the kingdom. No longer did the elves dance and sing; they walked cautiously and hurried about their business. After sunset, none went out, and not a window or door was left unlocked. Everyone lived in fear, fear of being the next one to disappear, to be caught by the spiders, or whatever was out there.   
Unbeknownst to many, another group had been sent into the forest, and had found nothing but dead bodies of the spiders and other creatures of the forest. The spiders were gone for good. There was something else to deal with.   
Thranduil sighed on hearing this news. He was feeling too old for this. The Grey Havens called to him, and he longed to see the faces of those who had passed there before him: his wife, his mother, and his father. Yet Mirkwood needed a king. Legolas was the obvious successor, for all who knew him truly loved him. But Legolas was no longer the son Thranduil knew and loved. He had changed. Things were different to how they had been before the elf had left. The king had not seen his son for many months; for the young elf had always been sleeping during the day, a sleep that he could not be awoken from. After dark, the elf disappeared. Never did anyone see him leave the room, neither by door nor window, yet when the room was opened, Legolas was not there. Food sent up was left uneaten, the decanter of water left on the table remained there untouched, the water slowly evaporating. Healers, called to check on him during one day when the elf seemed particularly motionless, claimed they could find nothing wrong with him, despite his paleness, and that he seemed healthier than ever. Yet they could not explain the elf's state of sleep, nor how or why he continued to disappear all night. Increasingly worried, Thranduil had even placed someone in his son's room, to watch over him. Still Legolas went out. The guard had reported, "One minute he was there, then he was not...it was if he had never been there."  
The king eventually decided that he, himself, would watch over his son. Reclining in a chair brought into the room, Thranduil settled down for the night, his eyes never leaving the bed where his son lay. Then as if a dream, he saw his son dissolve away, like a mirage. Jumping up and staring at the empty space on the bed, he shouted for guards. They rushed in, weapons to hand, then stopped, looking startled at the empty bed.   
Thranduil stood looking a little confused, then turned to the elves behind him. "Send out a search party. Find my son." He ordered "And send out a messenger to Lord Elrond as soon as the sun rises. Tell him it is a matter of extreme urgency, get him to come at once. We need his help."  
The guards nodded, then saluted, leaving the room.  
Thranduil sank down onto the edge of the bed, holding his head in his hands,  
"My son..." he whispered to himself, "Where is my son?"   
  
***********  
  
Thranduil awoke with a start. He blinked a few times, trying to clear the blurriness from his red-rimmed eyes. A young elf maid stood before him, looking anxious. "Your majesty?"   
He peered at her as the blurriness left his eyes. "Yes?" he asked tiredly.  
"A messenger has been sent out to Lord Elrond as you requested..." she trailed off, as if there was something else she did not wish to say.  
"What else?" inquired Thranduil, seeing that she was keeping something from him.  
She sighed, and looked at the floor. "The search party have returned...they cannot find Prince Legolas anywhere."  
Thranduil studied his hands which la folded in his lap. "Thank you," he eventually sighed, wordlessly dismissing the elf maid. Glancing up, he saw she was still standing there, biting her lip and looking as if she'd like to say something more.  
"Is there something else?"  
"Well sire, I...I know it's a bit forward of me, and something I shouldn't ask, but...Prince Legolas...he's...he's going to be alright, isn't he?"  
Thranduil gazed at the girl, her clear green eyes showing nothing but true anxiety, and told of a sadness Thranduil had believed only he felt. Dark shadows blemished the skin under her eyes, suggesting that the girl had lost a great many hours sleep worrying.   
"You're very...*fond* of my son, aren't you...what is you're name again?" he enquired. The girl looked a little flustered at his questions, and wrung her hands as she answered, "My name is Galanwen, and yes, sire, I admit I am fond of Prince Legolas...many are." She shuffled her feet and turned her eyes to the floor again, her cheeks turning a little red.  
"Let me tell you something, Galanwen," Thranduil began. "But you must promise not to repeat this to anyone." The maiden nodded, and Thranduil began. "I'm sure you have noticed a change that has taken place in Legolas. The healers claim there is nothing wrong with him, he is at the peak of physical health. Yet no one can explain why he sleeps so long. Over the past few months he was retreated further and further into himself. He never smiles, never speaks, he doesn't eat anything sent to his room, yet he still musters the strength to disappear into the night, and not return until just before sunrise. I saw my own son disappear before my very eyes, just...just *vanish* into thin air, like a ghost. Now he has disappeared, and the sun is up, yet my son has not returned.   
"You ask if he is going to be alright, yet I myself do not know. I'm beginning to think..." he paused, and sighed heavily. "I'm beginning to think that the person we've been seeing these past few months..." He trailed off and turned away shaking his head, gazing out of the window towards the trees in the distance, not wishing the elf maid to see the tears that were threatening to roll down his cheeks. "...its not Legolas."  
  
***********  
  
A knock at the door disturbed Elrond from his reverie. "Come," he commanded.  
The door opened and an elf entered, dressed in the colours of Mirkwood.   
"Yes?"  
The elf bowed to the lord, and stood to attention, speaking quickly, "His highness King Thranduil has sent a message, asking that you come immediately, for it is a matter of extreme urgency."   
Hearing the urgency in the elf's own voice, Elrond stood up, and began to leave the room, motioning for the messenger to follow. "Do you know what the problem is?" he inquired as he walked hastily along the hall his robes flowing behind him.  
"I know not sir," the messenger replied, "although I can guess, it may be about the many disappearances in Mirkwood...or it could be about Legolas."  
Elrond stopped in his tracks. "Legolas?"  
"Yes sir, it seems something is wrong with him. He behaves strangely, goes out at night and does not return until day. King Thranduil appears very worried."  
A concerned expression spread across the older elf's features. "And what of these disappearances you speak of?" he asked  
"Many of the Mirkwood residents have disappeared. Little trace can be found of them, although some..." the elf paused and swallowed as if some painful memory was coming back to him "Some were found in the forest, dead. It looked as if the spiders had got them, for they all had puncture wounds like those the spiders would make. But believe me, sir, I've seen wounds inflicted by spiders, and I've seen the wounds on the bodies with my own eyes. Those were not made by the spiders."  
"How can you be so sure?"  
"His Majesty sent out a great many warriors to kill the spiders, they are long gone. Those that remained have left, for there is no sign of them. There is something strange about the bodies of the elves we found in the forest though...they had no blood."  
Glancing over his shoulder, the messengers worry-stricken face informed Elrond that every word was true.   
"Be outside at the stables and ready to leave for Mirkwood. And tell the stable hand to prepare my horse," he ordered the messenger, and waved for him to leave. The he called to a maid walking down the hall. "Go to the kitchens and have the cook prepare a package of food to sustain two for the journey to Mirkwood. Have someone deliver it to the stables as soon as possible."   
With that, Elrond dashed to his rooms and sorted a pack to take with him. In afterthought, he pulled a book from the shelves that stood in the corner, adding them to the pack, then pulling out a small wooden box from under his bed and pushing it into the top of the pack. He then picked up his sword from the corner, grabbing his pack as he left the room.  
  
********  
Thranduil paced the hallway. Something was not right. Elrond should have arrived by now. The deaths and disappearances had suddenly stopped. Legolas had been the last one to disappear. The kingdom had grown evermore silent in the past weeks. Once the halls rang with the laughter of his subjects, music ebbing and flowing on the breeze. Now, the only sounds were the sounds of his light footfalls, echoing through the empty halls like ghosts.  
Hearing other footsteps behind him, the king whirled around, yet no one was there. Turning back, his heart leapt for joy as he saw Legolas out of the corner of his eye. "Legolas! My son!" he called aloud, turning to him. But when he turned he saw nothing but the empty hallway. "Legolas? Legolas!" he called out weakly, leaning against a wall and sinking to the ground his hands covering his face.  
  
Which is where Lord Elrond found him upon finally reaching Mirkwood.   
"King Thranduil?" The king looked up at the lord, his swollen, red-rimmed eyes betraying his tears.   
"Where is my son?" he asked tiredly.   
Elrond bent down to talk. "Sir, I would advise we a private room where we can talk about these matters you called me here for." He stood and then held a hand out to Thranduil, head bowed slightly. Heaving a sigh the king took the other elf's hand and pulled himself up.  
"My study is this way," he murmured, walking along the hall.  
  
********  
  
The two elves spent hours in conversation, as Thranduil slowly gave all the details of the past few months happenings to Elrond, who sat listening, nodding as if some things did not surprise him.   
Thranduil finished his tale and sat observing the lord, who was obviously deep in thought. Elrond looked dishevelled, his hair untidy and robes grubby and ripped.   
"What happened on your journey, Elrond?" he inquired, "you look as if you ran into troubles."  
Elrond nodded, and explained, "Your messenger and I came across a strange beast in the forest. It was taller than any man or elf, and certainly larger. The horses gave fright and reared, so we were thrown down to face the beast alone." He paused and pushed a stray tendril of hair away form his face, "We did not kill it, for two is too small a number to defeat such a beast. Yet after fighting for a great while, the beast was distracted by something and wandered off into the depths of the forest. After it left we walked the pathways until we found the horses. Then we rode here, without stopping during night nor day if we could help it."  
"Interesting..." Thranduil pondered for a moment turning and gazing at a point on the wall. After a few moments he turned back to Elrond. "Well I am sure you are worn after a long day riding. Call for a maid to show you to a guest room."  
Elrond stood and bowed respectively before nearing the door.  
"And Elrond?" he turned back to the king.  
"Thank you for coming so soon."  
"Lordship, Legolas's disappearance pains us all. I only hope I can assist you during these dark times to find him..." and with that he bowed one final time, and closed the door. "...or what has become of him," he muttered to himself as he walked away.  
  
*********  
  
After reaching his room, Elrond drew a long bath and sank back into the warm water, allowing it the bathe and cleanse the cuts he gained whilst battling the forest creature.  
He thought about the tale Thranduil had told. It reminded him of something, something he had not seen since he was young - much before the time when he had battled against the evil Sauron alongside Isildur.  
After bathing, he dressed in clean robes and pulled a book from his pack. It was old and leather-bound, the yellowed pages crinkled and torn. Elrond sat down and carefully turned the ancient pages, scanning the tiny writing on each page for what he needed. He turned another page, and found what he needed. He read the first few lines, and discovered that his suspicions were correct. At the next thing he read, his heart froze in fear. "No," he whispered to himself "It cannot be true."  
But it was true. Written on the page before him, the ancient text spelt it out.   
Legolas was good as dead.  
  
********** 


	2. Part Two

Shadows - Part 2/2  
  
  
  
"No! I will not have it!" the King of Mirkwood stamped through the hallway, Elrond talking desperately to him. Thranduil entered his study and thumped on the desk with his fist, then sighed. "He was always my favourite son. Why him?" he turned his gaze to Elrond, who was standing in the doorway.  
"Well, you'd better sit down," he said  
  
Once they were seated, Elrond began to tell Thranduil everything that he had learnt from the book, going back over what he had tried to tell him earlier.  
"There is a human myth, about a half-human, half-demon creature which sucks the blood from its victims. The humans call this a vampyr. The creature looks human, maybe a little paler than before they were taken over by the demon blood which makes them what they are. Yet it has...unnatural...powers. It can hypnotise people, which is often how it lures victims to their deaths. It can disappear..." Elrond stopped when he heard Thranduil gasp.  
"Well, what are you waiting for? Carry on!" the king ordered.  
"The vampyr cannot go out in daylight. I believe that, if this demon blood is mixed with the blood of elves...we could possibly have a vampyr that has no adversity whatsoever to sunlight, and with heightened senses like we never imagined. However vamyrs still need somewhere to rest. It must be away from people, yet close enough to be able to feed." Elrond sighed. The knowledge weighed heavily in his heart and he did not want to say to the king what he was going to say next. "Sir, I believe that Legolas may be such a creature. He will wreak havoc throughout Mirkwood if we do not stop this now, the kingdom will die. Then he will move on elsewhere, and the same thing will happen. This needs to stop, right now." The Lord sat and waited, watching different emotions flicker across the king's face as he stared at the desk in thought. Thranduil looked up.  
"What do we have to do?"  
  
*********  
  
So they set out. Parties of elves were sent into different parts of the forest, well warned about what they may be facing. Thranduil had not yet told them the monster they were after was Legolas. The groups were ordered to report anywhere that could be the 'creature's' resting place, and armed with the only weapons that would be any use against the beast: wooden stakes, swords, and fire.  
Thranduil had got angry when Elrond told him what needed to be done to stop the dreadful creature that once was Legolas. It is not easy to inform someone that a stake through the heart and decapitation is the only way to destroy what used to be their favourite son, nor is telling them the body should be burnt straight afterwards, the ashes being scattered so they can never reform.  
  
They searched the forest high and low, through day and night, yet could fine no trace of any dwellings in the forest, the only sign that he may have been anywhere were a few decomposing bodies, found deep in the forest. The Legolas-creature had been taking its food further away, it seemed.  
The bodies were taken back to be buried, some too long dead to be identified as the loved ones of other Mirkwood inhabitants. It was a grim day for everyone.   
  
*********  
  
Thranduil sat at the head of a table in one of the many rooms of Mirkwood palace. Around him sat Lord Elrond, and a number of commanders from the palace guard and army, along with the few remaining survivors of the long-ago war with Sauron who dwelt in Mirkwood. They talked among themselves as the king prepared himself for his speech to the group. As he stood up all fell silent and waited for him to speak. Drawing a deep breath, he began.  
  
A while later, all had been explained to the room. The worried elves sat in silence around the table, several had gone a little white when Thranduil revealed that the monster they were after was - or had been - Legolas; it was a shock to everyone.  
After Thranduil's explanation, Elrond had briefed them on ways to stop the creature, and warned them of things it may try to escape - or even kill them.   
"We have searched the forest. As you know there is nothing there but bodies," Thranduil said. "If he was in the forest, he is no longer there. Guards are about night and day; yet there have been no sightings of him, nor anymore disappearances. If he - or it - isn't gone, then he must be very clever in the way he is feeding...we need to know other places to search, our people are afraid to go outside. I will not have this in my - in *our* kingdom, our home. So where might we find this creature?"  
The king could not bring himself to name the vampyr Legolas, the horrific slaughter of many of his people by the bloodsucking creature was something his beloved son would never do, not in a thousand lifetimes. The creature looked and sounded like Legolas, yet the thing inside the body was nothing but a soulless demon.  
The elves around the table looked at each other helplessly. Not one could think of a place the vampyr might hide.  
A hand raised uncertainly at the back of the room. An elf maiden stood there, looking a little out of place and uncomfortable. "Has anyone searched the palace?" she inquired, a little timidly.  
"Of course child, we did that days ago," Thranduil replied, a little irritated at the girl having interrupted the meeting.  
Elrond took the girl's comment into consideration, then leaned in to speak to the king.  
"The creature may have been in the forest. If we disturbed it during our searches, it could have returned to the palace somewhere. The creature could be right under our noses, yet we do not realise," he whispered.  
Nodding to the commanders on his right, Thranduil gave an order, "Take your men and search the palace in its entirety all three of you. Search every room and hallway, every attic and stairway. Leave nowhere unchecked. You may begin this now." The elves nodded and stood up, bowing before they left the room. Thranduil then turned to the rest of the table. "Check every dwelling in the kingdom; it may be hiding there. If anyone resists your search, lock them up. When you have done that, join the search of the palace. We need to find this thing, before it eliminates us all," he said grimly. They all exited to room to begin the great search, leaving Thranduil and Elrond alone.  
"I am worried, Elrond...what am I to do if they find the creature? I am unsure that I could kill it. How can I look into the face of my son and then drive a stake through his heart?" Thranduil sighed.  
"Do not forget, my lord, that the creature is no longer Legolas. I too, would find it troubling to do such a thing as kill the vampyr when it so resembles such a good elf. Yet I believe that you are strong, strong enough to eliminate the creature should you need to do so." Elrond placed a reassuring hand on the kings shoulder. "Your son was an asset to elvenkind, we all greatly miss him. But only when the creature has been defeated, only then can we properly mourn the death of Middle-Earth's greatest warrior."  
Thranduil smiled a little at Elrond's praise for the prince. "Thank you, friend. I only hope that when this terrible demon took him, his death was quick and painless."  
  
*********  
  
The guards spend days searching the palace, and all the dwellings of Mirkwood. Some of the residents were not pleased to have guards searching all parts of their household, but others gladly assisted them in their search, wanting the kingdom to be free of the 'murderous monster' that had been terrorising them.  
Thranduil himself helped the search; he and Elrond systematically re-searched everywhere the guards had searched; nowhere was left unchecked, not a cupboard nor pantry was left unsearched. Yet they found nothing.  
  
It wasn't until they reached the hallway where Elrond had found Thranduil upon his arrival, that the king remembered something.   
"Here," he said impulsively. "It was here that I thought I saw Legolas, I thought I heard him. I think he may be here, somewhere..."  
"My lord, this hall has been searched three times with no result. The creature cannot be here..." he stopped as he heard footsteps, and wheeled around to see nothing.   
"You heard it too?" Thranduil inquired.  
"Yes..." said Elrond uncertainly. "Footsteps." As he looked, he could have sworn he saw the shadow of an elf - or human - cast against the wall from a doorway, but it was gone before he could be sure. He strode towards the door and looked in to find the room empty. "Strange shadows..." he mused, and walked quietly into the room. Thranduil followed with the same stealth, seeing that the lord was trying to be as quiet as possible, yet not quite understanding why. Elrond stepped towards a door set into the wall and opened it with a swift movement, only to find it was an empty cupboard, with shelves from floor to ceiling. Closing the door again, he stepped back into the room and looked around. Shelves of books and parchments lined the wall, a desk sat in the middle of the room on an ancient rug. He bent down and examined it closer, then walked stealthily out of the room, and down the hall, with the king following. It wasn't until they reached the end of the hallway until Elrond spoke.  
"How often is that room used?" he asked.  
"Hardly ever," replied Thranduil. "It was my wife's reading room, and it hasn't been touched since she left us, until it was searched."  
"Does it even get cleaned?"  
"As I said, it hasn't been touched until the room was searched," the king was beginning to get irritated with Elrond's questions. "Anyway, what relevance does this have to finding the vampyr?"  
"Did you notice anything about the rug?"   
Seeing Thranduil's blank look, the lord continued. "The dust on one end has been disturbed. At first I thought it would have been from the search, but then realised there were no footprints. My lord, might I suggest that we search *under* the rug?"  
In the kings head, the thoughts clicked into place. "I believe you are right. Some part of the palace have hidden doorways, I have long forgotten where they are, for I only truly knew them when I played here as a child." His eyes twinkled a little as he remembered the carefree days of his childhood, before he had the duties of king, then a determined look spread across his face. "Where are the stakes?"   
  
*********  
  
Minutes later, the king was standing outside the door to the old reading room, armed with a sword. Elrond approached, a pair of wooden stakes in his hands. "It is daylight, the monster should be sleeping," he whispered to the king. He too, had a sword by his side. Silently, they entered the room, then knelt down and began to roll up the rug.  
Thranduil suppressed a cry of surprise as the rug rolled back to reveal a hatchway in the floor. Elrond made the signal for Thranduil to have his sword ready, and walked to the other side of the trapdoor, pulling it open suddenly. Thranduil swiped with his sword, expecting something to appear out of the darkness, but there was nothing. Elrond lit a candle on the desk, then picked it up and held it in the hatchway. The light revealed steps leading downwards, carved into the rock. Drawing a breath, he stepped into the hole, and began to descend into the hole under the room, Thranduil at his heels.   
The candlelight lit the small cavern, casting eerie shadows against the walls. Thranduil had taken another candle from the desk before descending into the hole, and lit this from Elrond's candle. The cavern appeared lighter, and they were able to see a great deal more. There were a number of wooden boxes in the room. Elrond lifted the lid of a small square box, and to the kings amazement, found it was filled with jewels. Lifting the lid of a similar shaped box, Thranduil found it was filled with a similar treasure. He looked to Elrond, puzzled at the hidden treasure, but Elrond has set his sights on something else. At the end of the cavern, was a long box, lying on the ground. "Big enough to fit a man," Thranduil couldn't help but whisper as they approached it. Cautiously, they removed the lid, and looked inside. Thranduil gasped.  
It was Legolas.   
  
His unseeing eyes stared up at the ceiling of the cavern. Elrond silently handed a stake and a mallet to the king, who, kneeling down, solemnly placed the stake over the vampyr's heart. As he raised the mallet, Legolas's hand rose and grabbed the wrist of his hand holding the stake. The vampyr glowered at him with suddenly awakened, demonic eyes. "Look your son in the eyes before you kill him," it hissed from Legolas's mouth.   
Thranduil looked, and saw the fear in Legolas's - or the vampyr's - eyes.   
"You know what you have to do my lord," Elrond said quietly.  
"Sorry, my son," Thranduil whispered, and closed his eyes as he brought the mallet down in the stake.   
The Legolas-vampyr screeched in pain, and Thranduil flinched at the terrible noise, and looked down at the creature. It was not yet dead, but had an agonised expression on its face.  
"Again," said Elrond "One more time should be enough."  
Suddenly the vampyr spoke again. "Father? Father, Help me, please help me."  
Thranduil faltered, and began to withdraw the mallet.  
"It is a trick," warned the lord, drawing his sword.  
"No..." Thranduil looked into the eyes of his son. "I never told you how much I loved you," he said, tears forming in his eyes. "Now you will never know." And he brought the mallet down upon the stake for the final time, and the creature was silent, the life disappearing from its eyes. Dropping the mallet, Thranduil put his hands to his face, and wept. "Sorry...so, so sorry," he whispered.   
Beside him, Elrond raised his sword, and taking a deep breath, removed the vampyr's head in one clean swipe before dropping to his knees in front of the box with a sigh, gazing mournfully at the butchered body of the elf he loved as dearly as his own sons.  
  
It was several hours before either elf moved or spoke. Eventually it was Thranduil who broke the silence.  
"We should ensure we finish what we have started," he said quietly, turning tearful eyes to Elrond. He looked up, and Thranduil saw his eyes were red-rimmed. The king had not been the only one who shed a tear over this terrible ordeal.  
"Yes," said Elrond, standing up. "We shall incinerate the body within the box...nobody must see this body...not in this state."  
Together they replaced the lid on the box, and bore it out of the darkness into the sunlit room above. Slamming the trapdoor down, Thranduil kicked back the rug, and once they had left the room with the box, closed the door behind them.  
  
*********  
  
The box stood on the ground outside, with both Elrond and the king standing guard over it. Before them, a group of elves were building a large bonfire, big enough to accommodate the box. In his mind, Thranduil regarded it as a funeral pyre, a place where his beloved son could finally be put to rest. Earlier, in secret, Elrond and Thranduil had filled the spaces in the box with rags, and soaked it in flammable liquid.  
The bonfire was ready. Together, they lifted the box, and solemnly placed it atop the pyre. An elf handed Thranduil a torch, and they all stood back, Elrond bowing his head respectfully, as the king held the torch to the bonfire in several places, causing the orange flames to rise up around the wood. Eventually he threw the torch into the bonfire, and stepped back a little.   
Both he and Elrond watched as the flames rose to claim the box, and they watched as slowly the sides and its contents were burned away by the ferocious heat and flames. They watched in silence until the pyre burnt away, leaving only a pile of ash on the scorched ground. They waited until the ash was cooled, then Thranduil picked up a pot, scooped the warm ash into it and placed a lid over the top. The sun was setting, and the king stood and watched it, alone.  
  
*********  
  
That night, the ash was divided into seven containers, Elrond adding a sprig of foul-smelling herb to each. "To ensure the vampyr remains ash, and to ensure the safety of others," he explained.  
As daylight broke, Mirkwood's fastest riders were sent out, each with one of the containers, with orders to scatter the contents in a suitable place, and under oath not to question the reasons, nor tell anyone of their doings.  
One was sent to the borders of Rohan, another to Gondor. A third container was sent to Lorien, the fourth along the long road to Hobbiton. Elrond took the fifth container, promising to scatter the ashes in Rivendell. Thranduil ordered for the ashes in toe sixth container to be scattered in the sea. "Its what Legolas would have wanted," he explained. The seventh container was kept in Mirkwood, buried underneath the floor in the cavern in which they found the vampyr. Thranduil himself removed the boxes of jewels from the cavern, and gifted each of the riders with a selection of the gems on their return from the quest. Some he gave to Elrond, with great thanks for helping to destroy the creature that had destroyed his son, and put the prince of Mirkwood at a final rest.   
More of the gems were set into Legolas's bow and quiver, and the white handled knives he used the carry. These were then placed in the cavern, marking the spot where the ashes were buried, some of the loose jewels places by the objects. The trapdoor was then sealed shut, and the door to the room bricked up, never to be opened again.  
  
*********  
  
And so the time came for Elrond to return to Rivendell. With his belongings packed up, and the horse ready, he, Thranduil and a group of guards walked with him to the pathway that led through the forest. One of the elves stepped forward, and handed something to the king. He turned to Elrond, and presented him with the object - a sword and scabbard, inset with gems, the words "Apaire or rauko, Calemehtar"[1] inscribed in the blade. Elrond smiled at this sentiment.  
"With this sword, I thank you for your service," Thranduil began. "For you have brought the light back into the lives of my people through your courage and knowledge, and have been victorious over the terrible demon inflicted upon us." He smiled. "May your days filled with joy and light." The king motioned for the group of elves behind him to depart, and Elrond mounted his horse. When the elves had left, Thranduil stepped up to the lord's horse, and spoke quietly to him. "I am old, Elrond, and Legolas's death has taken its toll on me. Soon, I shall depart for the Grey Havens. Once an heir to the throne is in place, I shall take my leave, then eventually sail over the sea."  
Elrond nodded. "I too will soon leave for the Grey Havens," he said "Maybe we shall meet again."  
Thranduil smiled "Farewell, my friend, I wish you good speed on a safe journey."  
"May you find peace in the Grey Havens," replied Elrond. "Farewell."  
And with that, he rode off through the forest, leaving Thranduil alone.  
  
  
Fin.  
  
*********  
[1] Quenya - Victory over demon, warrior of light. 


End file.
